Newark City Council returns to array of public complaints

NEWARK -- Newark City Council returned from its August break to a chamber echoing with the concerns of angry residents who stood, one by one, to air grievances after a summer of surging violence and record unemployment.

Complaints ran the gamut from bizarre to grave, as residents addressed unfair hiring practices and slum conditions in public housing.

AP Photo/Mike DererMembers of the Newark City Council, with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, at a March press conference.

Two speakers were escorted out of the chamber by police after ignoring the three-minute time limit and encouraging people in the audience to stand and shout in support.

After the public hearing section had closed, the council proceeded with the more mundane business of approving stop signs and funding street repairs.

"That was actually pretty tame," Councilman Anibal Ramos said of the public hearings, as the meeting closed and council members filed out.

"We instituted it so that not just the nine of us could hear, but that the people could hear," said Council president Mildred Crump after the meeting. According to Crump, the public hearing portion comes first so that residents don't have to wait through the less exciting agenda items to speak their minds.

The council members were relatively placid throughout the barrage of complaints and addressed resident criticism where they could.

"There is a great deal of pain out there," Crump said after the meeting, "So many Newarkers are without jobs."

Jobs were foremost on the minds of residents, many of whom complained that, despite a 14.3 percent unemployment rate in Newark, the city was not enforcing an ordinance that demands contractors use 40 percent local labor on their sites. "One of my biggest issues is affirmative action," said El-Amin Scarborough, a resident who has been vocal in his criticism of what he sees as lax enforcement of the 40 percent rule. "I put the onus on the council. Can we find a way to penalize when they don't obey the law?"

Scarborough's assertions were echoed by George Tillman, Jr. who had come on his lunch break from a construction site. His boots were dusty, and he held a yellow safety helmet under his arm as he reported to the council that only 12 people on his 100-man crew were Newarkers.

"You're all doing what you need to do on your level," Tillman said to the council. "But they don't enforce it when it gets down to the street."

Crump said she liked the chance to hear residents' complaints and did not take it personally when residents called for the council to step down, as at least three people did today. After 14 years in the job she said she had developed a thick skin.

"Wait till you see a rough one," she said as she headed out of the chamber.